karenmorelandphotography

<p>I have been a photographer for about 3 years. I am going to start teaching classes in about a week to beginners. However, I have some people who are interested in one-on-one lessons to learn a little more advanced things like editing. What is the going rate for such instruction? Is $30/hr too little? I have no idea what the average would be. I understand it may vary from region to region. I live in middle TN. </p>

<p>Thank you, Glen. I appreciate the input. I have done school portraits also, so this is a great suggestion! </p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who has continued to post on this. @Marc, since the responses to this post, I shot another wedding inside a church. I used on-camera flash and bounced it, which worked well. When the ceilings did not permit a good bounce, I used diffused flash. When I shot big groups inside the church at this last wedding, I just used diffused on-camera flash as there wasn't time to set up off-camera lighting. There was a lot going on, people coming in and out, very little time to do anything, and the on-camera diffused lighting worked out just fine. Not glare or harsh shadows, etc. I was also careful to not raise my ISO up past 3600, and in most cases, I didn't need to. I also shot in full M mode, which worked out great! So, thanks to everyone's suggestions and help, things definitely improved as a result!</p>

Thanks Bob & Marcus. Sounds like different people do different things and it's not customary but it is up to the photographer. I also have a milestones customer who has seen me every 3 months from her maternity session to her baby's first year and I'm thinking I should do something special for the 1 year shoot coming up since I've never given her a discount and didn't sell the sessions as a package. It may not be much but perhaps I can do up a collage that she can print or something special. My time in Photoshop is something I will charge extra for when it comes to special projects so I'm thinking that might be a nice gift.

<p>Thanks, Bob! Are you asking me to post something from this shoot that turned out well? Or something else?</p>

<p>Thank you, Shawn and David. I may not do anything, as I mentioned, but I'm glad to know. I did give them a little break on their engagement session since they booked that together with their wedding so that may be all for now.</p>

<p>Great to know! Thanks WW! </p>

<p>I've only shot a few (small-ish) weddings so I'm not sure how this should go. Is it customary for the photographer to bring/give a wedding gift to the bride on the day of the wedding like everybody else (like not photography related)? Or, to give them something extra for free as their gift later even (that may be photography related)? This wedding I'm about to go shoot tomorrow is a full day's event, and I charged full price. There will be a lot of work and I haven't promised the bride anything special, extra, or free. I'm just asking behind the scenes if this is something photographers do on their own or if it's a social norm I'm not familiar with. (For reference, I don't really know this girl who is getting married, but my mother-in-law taught her in grade school and thinks highly of her. I shot her engagement photos last week though and we got along great.) </p>

<p>Good to know, Marcus! I will definitely give it a try next time I'm out shooting. </p> <p>I did go out to the church the other day for this next wedding and used M for everything. I even did an engagement session with them at the same time in all those places so I feel much more comfortable now with using it. </p>

<p>Marcus, I'm not sure why the Av or Tv modes were not working properly. And WW, I normally use the center weighted average but I had switched it to spot metering in case I wanted to focus and recompose and not have my barn in the middle. With the bright background and the dark barn, I was hoping the spot metering would lighten up my barn better. Is this correct?</p>

<p>Thank you, Shawn! I sure will! And thanks for the props on my website. I haven't added any photos from this particular wedding yet, but I will soon. I was actually surprised how many great images I got from this session despite some of my indoor troubles. I hope I can look back in this and laugh one day because I KNOW I have some major progress to make! :)</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for their continued commentary. I am getting some great advice, that is why I come to photo.net! @Dick, yes, the tripod is a great idea. My husband actually was in the balcony with a telephoto lens during the shoot and got some great shots, and I'm grateful because it salvaged some of the shots I had taken but that had poor quality. He was shooting with my 2nd 6D body and set his ISO to 3200 so they are all great even after cropping down. Also, I will be approaching the next bride about the use of flash during the ceremony. I hadn't thought about the ramifications of inconveniencing others with that. I would think the photographer takes precedence with whatever is needed to get the shot, not the guests who are merely attending. But I will definitely run it by her first!</p> <p>@WW, I think you are absolutely right, I have been nervous that I would not have the proper amount of time to make the correct adjustments in M mode, thus increasing the chances of me flubbing it up at the most critical moments, but on that note, I have an interesting follow up to all of this exposure learning that I'm doing... Yesterday morning I went out for a sunrise drive to shoot local barns, which is a favorite pastime of mine. While doing so, I experimented a bit. The conditions were outdoors, but because it was just before sunrise, the lighting was poor. So I set my ISO to a relatively low number (maybe 400 or 600 given the situation), then I tried Av mode to see what it would choose for my shutter speed. Although I'm not providing visual examples of my shoot yesterday, the camera actually WAY underexposed my shot! I bumped up my ISO and it still chose to underexpose things. That's when I decided it was the right time to experiment with M mode again. It was the perfect time to do so because no one was rushing me, etc. Once I switched it over, I once again moved my ISO down to a lower number and set my aperture and SS to reasonable numbers. MUCH BETTER! Even while moving from spot to spot in different locations on my early morning journey, I ended up getting some awesome shots and feeling a lot more confident with my selections over what my camera was choosing for my exposures.</p> <p>So, that said, I think I'm going to shoot this upcoming wedding in M and use on-camera flash with my lithosphere diffuser set to low (so it will be less noticeable). I will test it all out beforehand though. And the day I go up to do my test shoot and meet with the bride, she is also having me do an engagement mini session so I will also have the chance to really test my skills. I will tell you one thing, all this trouble has really got me learning quickly how to correct some of these issues I'm having and really forcing me to be more comfortable in full M mode to be able to fully control what I get. I really appreciate everyone's help on this issue!</p>

<p>Marcus, thanks for the input. I do have 2 6D bodies and 2 600EX-RT speedlites. I usually use a diffuser on-camera when not bouncing, and when off-camera, I usually shoot into an umbrella with a wireless transmitter. Studio lights are another story. I have 2 Profoto D1s in umbrellas and a wireless transmitter. I feel comfortable using my lighting most of the time, I guess I decided to try something new, and it was not the appropriate time to do so. </p>

Ok, thanks Michael.

<p>Thanks for the responses William and Michael. @William, do you suggest I shoot in Av or Tv for the next wedding instead of all manual since I'm nervous about changing all the settings every time? What would you recommend be the top priority in my settings? I would much rather choose some sort of auto (Av or Tv, not full Auto), but I'm also afraid something will be messed up that way! I guess for starters I'll just make sure not to bump my ISO past 1600 or so and use a fill flash. <br> @Michael, I agree! I was posting the full cathedral for reference. The customer will be receiving images shot mainly close up. I do like to just leave a little room though for print crops, etc. </p>